robenvsrolesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: roben is a verb, roles is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“roben” is a verb and “roles” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,968
“roben” frequency rank
#8,872
“roles” frequency rank
27840
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature roben roles
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de robar. Forma del plural de rol.

Where the eye mixes roben and roles

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
roben
5 ch
roles

Why the eye confuses roben with roles

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: roben is [ˈroβ̞ẽn] while roles is [ˈroles]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27840, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

roben is recorded at frequency rank #18,968, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈroβ̞ẽn]. roles is at rank #8,872, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈroles].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 27840, this pair ranks #224,906 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of roben vs roles

Shared letters: eor. Private to "roben": bn. Private to "roles": ls.

"roben" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "roles" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • robenorben · rboen · robben · robenn · robne · roebn · roven · rroben
  • rolesorles · rloes · roels · roless · rolles · rolse · rroles

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "roben" and "roles" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "roben" is a verb and "roles" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "roben" or "roles"?
"roles" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,872 in our Spanish list, against #18,968 for "roben". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "roben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "roles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #224,906 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "roben" and "roles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "roben vs rozan". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #224,906 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list